Ship Classes
The navies of the Imperial Trust divide all warships into a range of categories based on their size and role. What follows is a brief summery of the different warship size classifications and major roles that are currently used by the Imperial Trust, ranging from the mighty Super-Dreadnoughts to the humble Attack Craft. Size Classifications Size classifications are based primarily on the size of a warship, though there is a bit of flexibility around the edges. Hyper-Capital Ships Hyper-Capital ships are the largest and most powerful ships in the galaxy, at least barring the planetary-class ships that the elder races sometimes deploy. Each Hyper-Capital is able to turn the tide of a battle by its own, and only the richest and most advanced polities are able to field any. Superdreadnoughts (1,000 to 3,000 km3) Superdreadnoughts are the largest and most powerful warships in existence, able to wipe out entire battlegroups of lesser ships in a single volley and shrug off the firepower of entire fleets. These ships act as the flagships for the galaxies greatest powers, and are deployed to turn the tides in the largest of battles. The Imperial Trust has the design for the Deus Class Superdreadnought but has not been able to build any. Dreadnoughts (250 to 750 km3) Until recently dreadnoughts were the largest and most powerful ship in service, with each Dreadnought able to crush entire battle-groups of conventional ships. Few polities are able to deploy Dreadnoughts, and even fewer can build them. Where they exist Dreadnoughts are most often used as flagships for entire Fleet Groups, and their presence can turn the tide of a campaign on even that scale. The Imperial Trust has the design for the Legend and Prophet Class Dreadnoughts, and fields one example of each. Command Battleships (80 to 200 km3) Command Battleships are the only Hyper-Capital ships in anything like common service, with a decent proportion of all multi-sector polities being able to field one. Command Battleships are the the edge between Hyper-Capital and Super-Capital, and while they can easily wipe out any squadron of conventional warships they lack the ability to dominate all but the largest of battles like the other Hyper-Capitals. These ships often act as flagships for Sector Fleets, though some powers instead form entire battle groups out of them and use the resulting battle groups as elite task forces. The Imperial Trust has the designs for five classes of Command Batlteships and has at least one example of each of the classes. These classes are the Alexander, the Vajra, Einherjar, and Genghis Command Battleships and the Apostle Class Command Carrier. Super-Capital Ships Super-Capital ships are the heaviest conventional warships and an intact group of super-capitals can devastate most fleets if left unopposed. Almost all sector level polities have the ability to produce super-capitals, as do many smaller polities. Battleships (30 to 50 km3) Battleships are the largest conventional warships, and each ship has enough firepower and armour to match an entire squadron of cruisers. Battleships are generally used either as flagships for fleets of all sizes or to make up powerful task forces which are used as an elite force by their Admiral. The Imperial Trust currently fields ten different classes of Battleships divided into Fast Battleships, Armoured Battleships, Medium Battleships and Stealth Battleships, as well as Black Ships. Light Battleships (Grand Cruisers, 20 to 25 km3) Light Battleships, or Grand Cruisers as they are more often known are the smaller class of Super-Capitals. These ship still have enough firepower to inflict havoc on their foes and sufficient armour to shrug off anything but dedicated anti-armour weapons but are far less powerful then battleships. Grand Cruisers are almost always deployed in eite taskf forces, often led by an Battleship. The Imperial Trust currently fields five different classes of Grand Cruisers. Capital Ships Capital ships make up the majority of the combat power of almost all fleets, being cheap enough to deploy in large numbers and large enough to mount formidable weapons and armour. Large Cruisers (Heavy Cruisers and Battlecruisers, 10 to 15 km3) Large Cruisers, or Heavy Cruisers and Battlecruisers as they are most commonly known are the larger class of capital ships. These ships are large enough to mount some super-capital class weapons and defences, allowing them to inflict and survive levels of damage that normal cruisers can not. Generally these ships are used as the front-line capital ships, where their greater firepower and toughness will have the most impact. The Imperial Trust fields seven classes of Battlecruisers and four classes of Heavy Cruisers Cruisers (4 to 7 km3) Cruisers are by far the most common class of capital ships, being the cheapest capital class ships by far. They are used to build up numbers in a fleet, and make up for their average toughness and firepower with sheer numbers. These ships are mostly used as second line capital ships, going everywhere a more valuable capital ship is not needed. The Imperial Trust currently fields nineteen different classes of Cruisers divided into Fast Cruisers, Armoured Cruisers, Medium Battleships, Defence Cruisers and Stealth Cruisers. Screening Ships Screening Ships are the smallest ship in any fleet, and exist mostly to support the larger ships and eliminate the enemy screen rather then to engage capital class foes. This can consist of scouting, patrolling, flanking vulnerable enemy ships and escorting capital ships. Screening ships die by the dozen in any real engagement, but still fulfil a vital role while they last. Small Cruisers (Escort Cruisers and Light Cruisers, 1-2 km3) Small Cruisers, or Light and Escort Cruisers as they are most often known are the largest and most powerful screening ships. These ships are able to mount capital class weaponry and defences, leading to them being classified as the smallest capital ships by some definitions. Light Cruiser Squadrons are most often deployed to skirmishing with the faster parts of the enemies screens and to hunt down vulnerable capital ships while Escort Cruiser Squadrons are deployed to escort heavy capital ships, adding their fire to the capital ships and taking incoming fire. The Imperial Trust fields two classes of Escort Cruisers and three classes of Light Cruisers Escorts (Frigates, Destroyers and Raiders, 0.03 to 0.3 km3) Escorts are the smallest Warp capable ships, and by far the most numerous. There are three main types of escorts, each of which has its own role on the battlefield. Frigates are generally the largest escorts, and have formidable weaponry and defences for their class. These ships are used to escort capital ships, where they can force the enemy to split their fire, shot down attack craft waves and finish off crippled foes. This is an incredible dangerous role and frigates are considered to be the most dangerous posting in most navies. Destroyers are generally built for patrolling and scouting, and are some of the fastest ships in most fleets. In major battles flotillas of destroyers duel with each other and other fast warships on the edge of the battlefield, with the victor often gaining a key informational and positioning advantage. Raiders are the smallest and fastest warp capable warships. They are armed with torpedoes and other extremely long ranged weapons which they use to attack enemy capital ships and their escorts from outside of the enemies firing envelope, and then pull back before they can be engaged. When this works Raiders can with time take down ships well outside their league with few losses, and when it does not Raiders can be quickly wiped out for little to no gain. In major battles Raiders are most often used to divide the attention of the enemy by giving them another threat they have to pay attention to. The Imperial Trust fields two classes of Frigates, one class of Raiders and four classes of Destroyers Attack Craft Attack Craft are the small, carrier-launched spacecraft that provide far-ranging support for battlefleets in combat. The difficulty of hitting such targets with anti-ship weapons makes them a formidable weapon, but they are held back by their lack of endurance. There are three commonly used variants of attack craft, Fighters, Bombers and Assault Boats. Bombers are largish attack craft which carry powerful short ranged munitions able to damage even capital ships when targeted at weaknesses. Fighters are the smallest and fastest of the attack craft and are designed to hunt down and kill enemy attack craft. '''Assault Boats '''are small, space borne transports designed to pierce the hull of an enemy starship and deposit a single or multiple squads of soldiers for a quick hit-and-run attack. The Imperial Trust fields ten classes of Attack Craft Roles There are a handful of roles that ships of many different sizes are designed to fill, with most ships fitting at least two of them. These roles are split into Hull Roles, which are determined by the ships basic hull and Loadout Roles, which are determined by the ships weaponry. Hull Roles Hull Roles are built into the ship at its deepest level, and are impossible to change without totally rebuilding the ship. These roles are mostly build around exactly where on the heavily armoured/fast scale the ship falls. Armoured Armoured ships are those ships designed to have heavy armour at the cost of only having the bare minimum of manoeuvrability that a ship of their size needs. These ships are designed to form the wall of battle, meeting the enemy fleet in massed combat, a situation where firepower and armour is king. Armoured ships form the heavy core of most fleets, and are generally needed to land a knockout blow. Fast Fast ships are ships designed to be fast and agile, at the cost of being lightly armoured for their size. They are most often armed with long range weaponry and built to harass the enemy with hit and run attacks or flank enemy formations rather then meet them head on. Fast ships are the fleets skirmishers, wearing away at the enemy over time but at the cost of being bad at taking or holding ground, and being unable to quickly bring their foes down. More then any other class fast ships rely on having technical superiority, or at least near parity with their foes as otherwise they might find themselves being unable to engage from outside the enemies preferred range, either due to long ranged weaponry or high speed foes. Medium Medium ships are jacks-of-all trades, neither having great armour or speed but also not being slow or fragile. Not being intended to push technology to its limits these designs are generally the cheapest for their size category, and are mostly used for numbers and flexibility. Medium ships can fulfil almost any role, but do not excel at any role. Stealth Stealth ships are ships designed to avoid the enemies sensors, either in order to carry out other missions for to deliver devastating Alpha strikes. These ships are very fragile for their size and are unable to stand open battle for long, so their use is often do or die. When used correctly however a force of stealth ships can turn the tide of a war, and the mere possibility of their presence will limit the formations that a foe can take. Stealth ships rely on technological superiority to function, with peer opponents generally being able to detect them before they can reach their prefered range. Loadout Loadout Roles are formed by the ships weapons loadout, and is possible to change with significant yard time. These roles mostly determine what range the ship engages at, and what its preferred targets are. Fleet Carrier Fleet Carriers are ships that replace a large portion of their weapons with attack craft bays. These attack craft bays contain a variety of attack craft which used to engage the enemy at long range, where they can not take advantage of the Fleet Carriers otherwise weak weapons. They usually have a deep reserve of attack craft allowing them to participate in extended engagements. Escort Carrier Escort Carriers are ships with a decent compliment of attack craft bays that are mostly equipped with fighters, allowing them to intercept hostile attack craft. Carriers are generally deployed as part of a mixed force where they will be tasked to deal with enemy attack craft, as well as contribute with their normal weapons. Brawler Brawlers are those ships equipped with short ranged but powerful weaponry. These ships are almost always heavy armoured and are designed to act as line breakers, charging into the enemy lines to shatter them or holding the line against enemy charges. Despite their heavy armour Brawlers have the shortest life expectancy of any role. Hunter Hunter class ships are those designed to hunt down heavily armoured foes. They make heavy use of lances and high AP weapons for this role, or torpedoes for the lighter hunter classes. Killer Killer class ships are those ships designed to kill large numbers of light foes. As such they make heavy use of weapon batteries and attack craft. Generalist Generalist ships are those that have a mix of all weapon types, allowing them to be used in any situation. These ships are mostly used to reinforce more specialised designs, and add a great deal of tactical flexibility to a fleet. Transport Transports are ships that rather then having powerful weapons system are designed to carry troops. While most transports are relatively vulnerable and need to be protected their are exceptiosn such as the Imperial Trusts Skeid-Class Troop Transport Space Hulks Space Hulks as a group do not fit within the normal classifications of warships. While the larger Space Hulks are a match for even the most powerful of Hyper-Capital Warships they lack the massive armour that Hyper-Capitals rely on, instead having a ridiculous amount of sheer mass and redundancy. When this is combined with their incredibly low speed and the endless tide of attack craft that most hulks contain dealing with hulks is very different to dealing with any other form of warship. Above Colossal (310,000+ km3) Though thankfully rare there are hulks even larger then the Colossal Space Hulks.These hulks are able to carry hundred of billions of Orks at a time, and are festooned with enough weaponry to bring down even a superdreadnought in short order. The greatest threat however remains their incredible toughness, which is augmented by the fact that hulks of this size generally need anti-capital scale weaponry to hurt. Colossal (120,000 to 310,000 km3) Colossal Space Hulks are the size of a small moon, and often capable of carrying over a hundred billion Orks into battle. This size allows them to absorb an incredible amount of firepower before they go down, a endeavour that often takes weeks or months for entire Battlefleets to pull off. At this size most hulks start developing decently strong armour made from the compacted remains of warships, though still not as strong as even the armour of an Ork Kroozer. Gargantuan (40,000 to 120,000 km3) Gargantuan Space Hulks are massive conglomerations that can exceed a hundred thousand cubic kilometres in size. These hulks are large enough to carry an reasonably sized Waaagh by themselves, and are fleets in their own right. The sheer size and firepower that a Gargantuan Space Hulk possess makes dealing with one an challenging task, one that generally requires crippling out the escorting fleets first and then conducting an extended siege. This task is made harder by the seemingly endless number of Fighter-Bombers that hulks this size and deploy, and by the massive, and powerful, long ranged weaponry that Ork Meks construct on them. Huge (10,000 to 40,000 km3) Then there is the Huge Space Hulks, whose volume is measured in the tens of thousands of cubic kilometres. Ork Hulks of this level can not be engaged like a conventional warship unless you posses overwhelming superiority, and should instead be worn down by long range firepower over an extended period. This task is made harder by the fact that Huge Space Hulks are the classification where Orks start deploying powerful, and long ranged, lances allowing them to shoot back at long ranged harassers. A Huge Space Hulk will most likely contain tens of billions of Orks, which is enough to overwhelm even a well defended world. Large (2,000 to 10,000 km3) The next classification of Space Hulks is the Large Space Hulks, whose mass starts on the upper level of a Superdreadnought and rises well past this. This is the level of hulk where their firepower starts to become formidable, though not so much that conventional engagement tactics are nonviable. Large Space Hulks contain billions of Orks, and are often enough to overwhelm the defences of a world by themselves. Small (250 to 2,000 km3) The next classification of Space Hulks is the Small Space Hulks, who mass between a Dreadnought and a Super-Dreadnought. These Space Hulks can contain a billion Orks at the highest, and are tough enough to require concentrated firepower to bring down. They can still be treated like normal combatants in most ways however. Tiny (30 to 250 km3) The smallest classification of Space Hulks is the Tiny Space Hulks, who mass less then a Dreadnought. These Space Hulks generally contain only a hundred million Orks at the most and can be defeated by most battleships or cruiser squadrons. Planetary-class ships During the War In Heaven the participants deployed warships of a scale far beyond even the largest of Hyper-Capitals. These Planetary-class ships ranged in size from tens of millions of cubic kilometres into trillions of cubic kilometres. This makes even the smallest Planetary-class ship effectively immune to conventional weaponry due to simple mass, forcing attackers to rely on other methods. These methods range from Exterminatrus level weaponry, the gargantuan weapons of other Planetary-class ships, other super weapons or the most common, planetary assault. Many forces lack the ability to inflict major damage on a Planetary-class ship from the outside, forcing them to land troops on the vessel and fight their way though to something more vulnerable.This is best treated as the planetary assault of a fortress world, with all that that implies. Craftworlds (10,000,000 to 100,000,000,000 km3) Craftworlds are Eldar Planetary-Class ships that once carried the Asuryani populations though the galaxy. After the sacrifice that led to the birth of Ynnead most of the hundred craftworlds were left empty. Since then the Eldar have moved mostly into the Webway, where they have remade several of the Craftworlds to be warships rather then the trading ships that they once were or the worldships they became. While the Eldar lack the population to crew more then a handful of the craftworlds, when they deploy one to war few powers can stand against it. World Engines (500,000,000,000 to 5,000,000,000,000 km3) World Engines are the most powerful known warships of the Necrons. These planet sized vessels filled with arcane technology are capable of incredible feats of destruction, and act as the cornerstone around which the Necron Fleets move. In the current era few World Engines remain, with most having been destroyed during the final stages of the War In Heaven and many of the remainder falling in the War in the Void against the Tyranid Superfleet. Attack Moons (10,000,000,000 to 100,000,000,000 km3) Attack Moons are the smaller of the two Planetary-Class ships that the Krork make use out of. These warships are approximately the size and shape of a large moon, and are the smallest ships capable of using Subspace Drives. These drives allow the Attack Moon and its accompanying fleet to travel massive distances in a short time-frame, giving the Krork a level of strategic mobility that few can match. In battle Attack Moons use a wide range of powerful weapons, with the most powerful being able to destroy entire planets with a single shot. The Krork are still in the process of rebuilding their numbers, and have so far only completed a single Attack Moon. Category:Infomational Category:Ships